Red Wine
by Sophbabe
Summary: A new girl arrives at Holmes' collage and strange things start to happen, starting with a dead body. Chapter 1 updated.
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer: I don't own any thing to do with Sherlock Holmes, so don't sue me.  
  
  
  
  
  
Holmes watched the Chemistry Teacher lead the new student around the Science Lab. She had been here about a week, but Holmes had not yet met her, he wasn't the social type. He had seen her in her classes, as he went about his business with his; she seemed a quiet, conscientious and thankfully sensible student. Most of the female population of the London New Collage were the daughters of high earning business men eager to get their daughters into a high class school to help their reputation rather than their daughters schooling, and the males were mostly here because of sports scholarships. There were only a few people here because of their academic scholarships, and that was Sherlock Holmes and his older brother Mycroft. Holmes was in year 11, and he had just turned 16, his brother attended the university part of New Collage, and would be graduating next year. This new student was also in year 11, judging by her black uniform, which only year 11 and up wore. She had dark brown hair which was tied back in a lose bun at the nape of her neck, with bit falling out around her face, and small oval glasses which she was constantly pushing back up her nose to her green eyes; she was a short, but then to Holmes most people were short. Her jumper was a little too big, and came down over her skirt and hid her hands up her sleeves, her skirt came down to her knees, and she wasn't wearing tights so her pale white legs showed in stark contrast to her dark clothes, she overall gave quite a scruffy impression and Holmes' attention went back to the book he was looking at. The Chemistry Teacher was Miss Stein, a German woman with a thick accent which most people couldn't understand; she was carrying a few reference books and explaining the latest computer system that had been installed last term to the new girl. Holmes turned back to putting the books he had been using on the shelf when a phone started to ring in Miss Stein's office, he heard the girl say something, but she was very soft spoken so Holmes didn't hear, but Miss Stein said something along the lines of thank you and went back to her office and picked up the phone. Holmes finished his experiment and started to go when he noticed the new girl refilling the book shelves with the reference books, and he went over to make sure she was putting them in the correct places as he knew Miss Stein to be a perfectionist, much like himself. As he got to her, she was stretching up to try to get a book back on the top shelf and not really succeeding, she was on her tiptoes and using the ends of her fingers to push the book back in. Holmes reached over her head to push the book in for her, but he must have startled her as she jumped backward and collided with him. The book fell from it's place on the shelve and thudded on the floor, the girl had sprung away from Holmes and glared at him, but she seemed to regard him as no threat and her glare softened and she placed her hand on her heart in and looked at the floor. "Mr Holmes, you startled me." Holmes raised his eyebrows and looked at the girl, could this be someone with the same deductive powers as him? "Your name is written on your book." She said pointing to his rough work book. He smiled at her, a girl with a brain, this could be a find. She seemed to realise his mood and raised her eyebrows and looked at the ceiling. "Welcome to New Collage, I'm afraid I don't know your name." He said extending his hand to her. "Isla Tye, but most people around here just call me New Girl or hey you." Holmes smiled, that was the ungracious welcome most new people got. He took time to observe Miss Tye more closely as she quickly put the rest of the books back. She had well developed calve muscles, so she probably ran or danced, regular even features and a slim figure, her eyes seemed to dance and glow in the pale light of the lab. Holmes, while not being interested in girls his age, new when one could be called attractive, and Miss Tye was defiantly one of those. Miss Tye handed him the large reference book for the top shelve and he smiled and put it on for her. "I am sorry for startling you." "Well it's not very often that an arm appears out of nowhere!" She laughed and gathered her books from the reception desk, waving goodbye to Miss Stein through the frosted glass window. Holmes followed her out the lab, where Miss Tye met with some of the other girls from her class, Holmes knew them. They weren't the smartest of the girls, but they were probably the nicest in her class. She turned before disappearing round the corner and nodded and smiled a goodbye in his direction. "Well Holmes, I would have thought that she wouldn't be your type, considering you would probably prefer a boy." Joked an aristocraric voice from behind as Holmes watched Miss Tye walk off. "Well Smyth, I know you're not free so I thought I should raise my standards a little." Holmes said turning round to look at his tormentor, Jeremy Smyth, and walking off in another direction. He heard angry mutterings behind him, and let the corner of his mouth turn up in a small smirk. He didn't really mind about the rumours that he was gay, no; he let people have their opinions as long as they didn't try to enforce them. With that thought he made his way to his last lesson.  
  
"Well, what do you think of Miss Tye?" Asked Miss Stein. Holmes looked up from his work at the openly curious eyes of the young teacher.. "She seems a pleasant enough girl." He said and went back to his work. "She's the same age as you; you don't really have the right to call her a girl. Don't let your deductive powers make you get above yourself, young Mr Holmes." She said patting his hand and walking back to her desk. She called over her shoulder that she would lock the lab in 5 minutes. Holmes sighed and looked at his watch, it was 8 o'clock, and he would have to walk back to his dormitory across the cold courtyard. He called goodbye to Miss Stein and pulled his coat around his tighter as he made his way across the cold corridor and out into the snowy night. He looked up at the full moon, and almost did a double take; he could have sworn he saw someone sitting on the roof of the science block. Rubbing his eyes he walked back to his dormitory. Just as he got round the corner, something slammed into his stomach, knocking him over and spilling his books onto the cold concrete floor. He rolled onto his back and tried to get up, but the heavy weight of a foot on his shoulder stopped his motion. "I'll show you what happens when you try to make a fool of me Holmes." Hissed the sinister voice of Smyth. 


	2. 2

Holmes was pulled to his knees and punched in his face; someone drove their foot into his stomach and Smyth pulled on Holmes' hair forcing his head back and they glared at each other. "I don't think he's got the message yet." Smyth said letting go of the handful of hair and walking away. The grip on Holmes' arms relaxed a bit, this gave Holmes a small chance of getting away, but not while Smyth was still close enough to come back. A thump behind them distracted the boys holding Holmes, and he managed to twist out of the hold on his wrists and roll over the cold snowy ground and get on his feet. The three boys Smyth had left to do his dirty work advanced towards him; Holmes turned and ran along the road to the main entrance of the school.  
  
There was no point taking on three healthy rugby players, he didn't have any means of defense other than his hands, which were numb and grazed. His stomach complained bitterly, and a warm trickling feeling in his nose told him that his face wasn't too pleased about its recent treatment either. He skidded in the second courtyard outside the girl's dorm, and slipped to his knees again, very quickly a hand grabbed at his shoulder and pulled backward, Holmes turned and drove his elbow as fast and as hard as he could in the general direction of his attacker's body. A grunt and slight crunch confirmed that the wild strike had struck home. Holmes didn't wait to see who and where he'd hit, he got up and ran into a small alley that led to the back of the girls dorm. He looked out, to see his pursuers huddled in a circle in the center of the courtyard. "I don't know why we had to chase the poor bugger, we gave him the message alright, and I'm bloody freezing." Moaned Richards, the burly second row forward. "Yeah let's pack it in, tell Smyth we done what he wanted. You alright mate?" This came from someone Holmes didn't recognize, and was directed to the boy rubbing his face. Holmes waited until they had cleared out of the courtyard and started to get out from his cramped position, his feet were buried up to the ankles in snow and his fingers had gone numb some time ago. He got to the center of the small courtyard when a wind picked up, it blew snow into his face, stinging and whipping like icy needles. He turned round and stared into the snow, it was making a blizzard around him, nothing that would occur naturally in England. He turned again, trying to make his way to the exit, and walked straight into a hooded and cloaked figure.  
  
Holmes jumped backward, the figure advanced slowly, the blizzard got faster and faster. The snow now moved like a blanket around him and the sinister figure, the wind making the ragged cloak and hood bellow out like sails. The figure held up a white pale hand, making the cloak fall away to show more black folds of cloth. "You have not seen me, sleep now." The voice was female. She moved closer to Holmes, the words "sleep now" seemed to echo in his head and in the swirling wind and snow. He wanted to move, but his legs were heavy, suddenly the nagging pain from his injuries was gone and he couldn't move his head. He felt himself falling, and he realized that the hooded woman was laying him down, the black cloth felt soft and warm against his hands and face. "Who." he managed to mutter before falling into a world of cold blackness.  
  
  
  
"Mr Holmes?" whispered a disembodied voice. Holmes opened his eyes, a blinding white light above him made him regret that decision and close them straight again and put his hand over his eyes. He regretted that decision too; a sharp pain in his stomach tore up his side and made him put his hand back to its original position. A scent of flowers and body spray wafted up his nose and the sound of two muttering girls and a quiet radio made him realize where he was, the girls dorm. "Turn that blasted light off." He muttered. There was a "humpf" and a sharp click announced the disappearance of the light. Holmes opened his eyes, the room was now illuminated by a small lamp on the far side of the room, and luckily it was a private four bed dorm, so he didn't have a whole room of girls panicking and or fussing. He twisted his head slowly over to the door, where a worried chubby blonde girl and Miss Tye stood peering at him. "I'm glad to see you're well enough to order people around Mr Holmes." Miss Tye said walking over to him and sitting on the side of the bed. The other girl, Natalie Pride came closer and sat down on a chair. "You've been fighting Mr Holmes, the head will hear about it I'm sure." She said shaking her head in a motherly way. Holmes grunted and sat up in the bed, ignoring the protest from both girls and his stomach. Miss Tye dipped a cloth in a bowl of cloudy liquid and put it close to Holmes' face. It had a sharp odor, and had stained the cloth. He put his hand up to stop it coming closer to his face, but Miss Tye slapped it back down again.  
  
"It's Witch-hazel; it will stop your eye or nose swelling or bruising so much." She explained dabbing his forehead. A knock at the door took both girls away and left Holmes to wipe the Witch-hazel over his eye. He looked over to the mirror on the wall. His slightly long black hair was messy, one of his slate grey eyes could be seen peering out, red rimmed and watery, from a bruise that started at his left temple and spread across his face to the bridge of his angular nose. He groaned, this wasn't going to be easy to explain to his brother. Miss Tye and Miss Pride had gone out the door, he could hear them talking to a third, younger girl. Holmes stood and walked round the room, trying to get the feeling back into his legs, he stopped opposite a large trunk which was labelled as Miss Tye's. Curiosity filled him and he lent down to open it. Suddenly the door to the room burst open and in rushed Mycroft. "Sherlock, what on earth are you doing here and what happ- no don't worry about that now, you'd better come with me." Mycroft said and went back out the door. Holmes shot Miss Tye a questioning glance as he followed his brother out the door into the old corridor and out into the small courtyard. He passed a pile of snow, which had a body imprint on it, as well as 3 sets of smallish footprints. "That were we found you Mr Holmes, Nat and I were looking for my little sister and when we came back we found you lying there." Holmes nodded and tried to remember. There was the fight in the main courtyard, the painful run into this one, being grabbed from behind and then, a cold blackness. He couldn't remember. They came into the main courtyard and saw a group of police officers and Teachers surrounding a body. As Holmes came closer he saw who it was. "Body identified as Jeremy Smyth." Said a uniformed officer to a man in plain clothes. Holmes saw his brother look back at him, and then tap the Headmaster on the shoulder. "Sir, here's my brother." "Ah, Sherlock, I'm afraid you're a key witness to this, this tragedy." Said Mr Jenkins. Holmes was confused, then Miss Tye put her hand on his shoulder and pointed to a corner, the one were Holmes had been attacked. Holmes could see in the flashlights that his books were lying there, face up, and covered in blood. 


End file.
